Ok… I’ve been meaning to write this one for a while, and finally, after spending about 10 min of my life watching Parental Control… I just had to finish it.
MTV, what the hell happened?
Were you always this bad???
That show above was probably the worst programming I’ve seen for a long time – granted I don’t watch a lot of tv and before you ask, I only continued watching it to make my case to finish with this blog. I’ve also watched about 10 min of Tiara Girls – in awe that someone actually lets this go to air…
Seriously? When did you forget about the music and decide to praise the snotty rich pre-teen/teen or the sad wannabe – complete with fake scripts and sad one liners? I remember loving MTV growing up for the videos and yes, the TWO reality shows (Road Rules & Real World) which was something new for the time!
The saddest part is that MTV is probably the most powerful station in the world for influencing young adults. Just think about how many marketers want to get their hands on the lucrative teen market and then think of MTV’s presence in dozens of countries around the world… (Finland too). And then look at what it decides to show…. Pathetic.
Granted, MTV has worked on various social issues and it has had an impact. It’s done a lot for getting the young to vote and its commercials often show issues like AIDS, safe sex, refugee camps etc.
But why hold those messages for the commercials? Why can’t they infuse those ‘real’ messages into the actual programming? Do they really think that their audience can’t handle it? That their audience is too stupid to understand those issues? Well here’s a thought… the station is partly responsible for dumbing down the generation. With all those marketing folks up there that know exactly how to manipulate… you think…you think that they could manipulate for the better at some point.
In any event, it’s about the music (or at least should be)
Music has and always will have extraordinary powers…. It has emotion; it communicates; it has the power to move people.
That’s my plea for MTV. You have incredible powers to make change happen. To tell people to give a damn. To make people feel. To instill better values as a society.
Please, use your power and creativity to smarten up our generation… not dumb us down.
